


Denudation

by astralDeveloper, orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Awkwardness, Competition, Homestuck Shipping Olympics, M/M, Rivalry, Worksafe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-28
Updated: 2012-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/471089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralDeveloper/pseuds/astralDeveloper, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Driven by boredom, restlessness, and the desire to impress one another, Karkat and Sollux take increasingly dangerous risks. When their game goes a step too far and one is injured, the two must take a risk of a different sort. Rated PG-13, starring Charlize Theron.</p>
<p>Team Karkat♥Sollux's entry for Round 1 of the 2012 Homestuck Shipping Olympics. Prompt: "Gambling."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Denudation

**Author's Note:**

> Images 1 and 3/beta reading/story outline: [astralDeveloper](http://astraldeveloper.tumblr.com)  
> Second image/story concept/story text: [novelty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noveltyhorns/works)  
> Fourth image: [asscend](http://asscend.tumblr.com)  
> Emotional support: [karkatspanties](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aieem_Artemis/pseuds/karkatspanties)

Karkat stalked down the street, spray paint in his hands, glancing warily at the neighboring hives as he made his way to the larger thoroughfare. Neighbors were unlikely to confront him, but likely to report him were he spotted on his way. No one in the lawnring looked out for anyone else unless it was to reduce the area’s population. He easily scaled the ladder to the billboard, his destination, and crawled along the mesh platform beneath her picture - had to hurry, it was brightly lit and silhouetted him much too clearly - and spray-painted a long, quick curve above her smiling lips.

“Fuck you,” he murmured, painting a matched curve beside it and admiring the Condesce’s new moustache before starting his work in earnest.

Karkat crept through the back door of his hive shortly thereafter, his heart still pounding from the rush. Soon, drones would arrive to repair the billboard. It was improbable that they would find him, but the idea of courting their ire excited something in him that had been bored for sweeps; a restlessness that, when stilled, reminded him all the more of its presence. He could see how trolls became addicted to dangerous games. He wanted to do it again.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CG: THERE. [DONE](http://bit.ly/MMiSYS).  
TA: gj.  
TA: do you feel better, ii2 your completely mii2guiided offen2e a22uaged.  
TA: becau2e they had the gall two iin2tall propaganda iin your neiighborhood, liike iit ii2 pretty much everywhere el2e.  
CG: YEAH, ACTUALLY. I FEEL GREAT.  
CG: NOT SARCASTICALLY. IT WAS FUN.  
CG: WHY DON’T WE SORT OF  
CG: I DON’T KNOW, MAKE A GAME OF IT?  
TA: out of what.  
CG: WHO CAN DO THE TOUGHEST THING.  
CG: OBVIOUSLY WHAT I DID WAS STUPID WIGGLER SHIT, BUT  
CG: I MEAN, WE CAN COMPETE.  
TA: that’2 2tupiid.  
TA: but fiine, ii gue22.  
TA: becau2e ii know you don’t have a chance.  
TA: liike a wiingbea2t challengiing a trunkbea2t two a fii2tfiight  
TA: neiither have fii2t2 but one ii2 2tiill obviiou2ly 2tronger.  
TA: troll2 a2k “what’2 that wiingbea2t doiing?”  
TA: “oh ju2t beiing a 2tupiid piiece of 2hiit liike alway2, never miind.”  
TA: that ii2 how you are.  
CG: OH MY GOD, SHUT UP. YOU ARE THE WORST AT TRASH-TALKING.  
CG: I DO HAVE FISTS. I’M GOING TO INTRODUCE THEM TO YOUR BODY ONE BY ONE.  
TA: kiinky.  
CG: I’LL MAKE IT EASY. REMEMBER THAT HEMOCASTIST PIECE OF SHIT FIVE FLOORS BELOW YOU? AND HIS HATE SITE?  
TA: yeah.  
CG: MESS THAT SHIT UP. I DARE YOU.  
TA: he’2 a blueblood.  
TA: iif he fiigure2 out iit’2 me  
CG: THAT’S THE POINT, YOU NOOKLICKING SHITFUCK.  
CG: IF YOU’RE NOT RISKING ANYTHING THERE’S NO POINT PLAYING.  
CG: JUST DO IT. NO FEAR.  
TA: fiine.

Ever since Karkat could remember, he and Sollux had tested one another with challenges, verbal sparring, perpetual griefing. Despite the things he said, the things Sollux said to him, it wasn’t caliginous - neither could sustain any real hatred for the other. Even this challenge wasn’t so much caliginous as it was novel; the risk made it better, more exciting than shooting at Sollux on a monitor or sniping at him with careful words.

He’d been considering it all the way back to his hive. He could take risks that outweighed benefits to prove himself, to show he was up to doing whatever Sollux could, and Sollux - all poor self-control, moodiness, rigid boundaries - would he throw himself into it the same way?

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

TA: get ready two ta2te iinferiioriity.  
TA: iif ii were you ii would lock my2elf iin my hiive iin 2hame and never leave agaiin.  
CG: CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING ME THEN.  
CG: BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU DO - WAIT, YOU CAN'T BE ME BECAUSE YOU'RE PATHETIC!  
CG: SCRATCH THAT, THEN.  
TA: ok, are you lii2teniing??  
CG: YEAH.  
TA: becau2e FUCK YOU.  
CG: WOW. I’M ASTONISHED BY YOUR BRILLIANT REJOINDER, EXCEPT I'M NOT, BECAUSE IT'S STUPID.  
CG: YOU'RE STUPID.  
CG: TELL ME IF YOU GOT SHIT DONE.  
TA: no ii’m ju2t here for thii2 2ciintiillatiing conver2atiion, diip2hiit.  
TA: bruteforced hii2 router piin, diiverted hii2 traffiic, 2tole hii2 pa22word2  
TA: tl;dr, boriing.  
TA: check the 2iite.  
CG: HOLY FUCK  
CG: HOLY FUCK YOU DID IT.  
TA: eheheh, iimpre22ed?  
CG: I COULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING.  
TA: whatever, 2kiid.  
TA: mo2tly ii had two make 2ure ii wa2 untraceable.  
TA: ii thiink he ha2 ‘2ociial connectiion2’ iif you know what ii mean.  
TA: he could al2o 2nap me iin half.  
CG: WHO FUCKING CARES.  
CG: I MEAN, I GUESS IT'S IMPRESSIVE? BUT GET OVER YOURSELF, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE BORING PART.  
CG: I'M GOING TO SLEEP.  
TA: fuck you.

Slipping into his recuperacoon, Karkat turned back to look again at the website. Replaced by a gray-and-yellow heart, it blinked "4u, bby." This was the sort of thing Sollux would do to fuck with him, but simultaneously it was an extra hint in a situation that already put Sollux at risk. Karkat stared at it, uncertain as the sopor carried him away, wiping his mind clean; as it went, he wondered what Sollux looked like.

He wouldn't find out for months, as it turned out, but the game became increasingly dangerous. Both grew accustomed to the risks and payoffs, the brief calming of their restlessness. Karkat climbed a local crag - steep and rocky, trenches of treacherous pebbles leading to sharp drops - and left a flag at the top, visible by satellite. Karkat looked through Google Alternia at the field Sollux destroyed for him, long black furrows that Sollux had barely escaped, head pounding and fingers sticky with honey, before the inspectormentors arrived. Karkat sent pictures of the fighting robot he’d ordered from Equius, dismantled, scythe marks gouged into its limbs; he sent black-and-white pictures of the bruises on his ribs and arms, his sprained, swollen wrist.

He thought about that demolished field, evidence of Sollux’s raw power. He sent pictures of himself, his body bruised but compact, and wondered if Sollux thought the same of him.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CG: SEE [THIS](http://bit.ly/O6Jvir)?  
CG: IT’S SOMETHING YOU CAN’T DO.  
CG: BECAUSE COMPUTER SHIT’S ALL YOU DO.  
TA: ii al2o 2hoot la2er2 from my face.  
CG: THAT ACTUALLY HURT YOU.  
CG: WHAT’S THE POINT OF ATTACKS THAT HURT YOU WHEN YOU USE THEM?  
CG: THEY’RE LIKE YOU. THEY’RE USELESS.  
TA: you have no iidea what ii can do, 2hiit-for-braiin2.  
CG: MAYBE YOU CAN MAN UP FOR ONCE.  
CG: I WANT YOU TO RISK SOME PHYSICAL FUCKING INJURY THIS TIME.  
TA: ii diid that every tiime.  
TA: everythiing ii diid would have meant iin2tant culliing.  
TA: you’re two 2hiit2ponged to realiize the rii2k2 ii run.  
CG: OH MY GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GETTING MELODRAMATIC ABOUT THIS.  
CG: NO ONE GOT HURT. IF NO ONE HAS, NO ONE WILL, OKAY?  
CG: DON’T BE SUCH A FUCKING PANSY.  
TA: becau2e after all thii2 2hiit ii’ve done that ii2 defiiniitely a 2en2iible thiing two 2ay.  
CG: AND I WANT TO SEE YOU, TOO.  
CG: THAT’S MY DARE. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO AS LONG AS IT’S THREATENING AND I GET TO WATCH.  
TA: eheheh.  
TA: iintere2ted iin what ii look liike?  
CG: WHAT? NO. I JUST WANT TO SEE YOU FAIL.  
TA: whatever.  
TA: hey, kk.  
CG: WHAT.  
TA: pretty iimpre22iive work on that robot.  
CG: WHAT?  
TA: ii’ll put on a good 2how for you, two.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

CG: WHAT??

Karkat stared, his sprained wrist throbbing with the sudden pounding of his heart. “I’m not blushing,” he told the monitor. “I’m hot from fighting, fuck off.” After a moment, he put his face to the cool surface of the desk and sighed, long and loud.

* * *

Sollux stared into the lens as the webcam focused before looking awkwardly down and to the right, eyes heterochromic and glowing. His obvious nervousness as he backed away, making Karkat conscious of his own stocky frame and snub nose, was unfair; it was unfair because Sollux was gorgeous, all slim lines and an ascetic, clever face.

"Ith it working?" he asked.

"Yeah," Karkat answered, focusing on his nasal voice and gawky fangs instead. Sollux nodded, backing up, hands spread out and pressed against the wall.

“Good.” Karkat watched as violet radiance surrounded him, obvious in the dark; across the room, a shuriken lifted itself from a pile on the floor, surrounded by an identical glow. “One.” With a whir and a crack, it embedded itself in the wall to the right of his throat. He twitched, gasping. Karkat heard his slow exhalation, watched his fingers nervously clench and relax.

"Holy shit. You have control of that, right?" Karkat asked, swallowing.

"Usually." Sollux closed his eyes, licked his lips. "It’th hard not to think of them hitting me, and if I do - Two.” The next shuriken struck beside his right ear, the next his left. Karkat gasped and twitched at each quick impact, anxiety filling him up like cold water. “Three.” He planted them between his splayed, elegant fingers in a dizzying series of whirs and thunks - four five thikth theven, eight nine ten eleven - before Karkat noticed the sweat plastering his hair to his forehead, his thin chest heaving.

“Hey,” Karkat said softly, concerned.

“Shut up,” Sollux breathed, his mouth open and panting into the headset. With two sharp cracks, shurikens appeared between the twinned horns on both sides of his head. “Twelve. Thirteen.” He stood pinned to the wall as he psionically lifted the camera to his face, crookedly smirking. Karkat flinched as the final shuriken rammed into the wall above Sollux’s head, so close that the metal pressed against his hair.

“Fourteen,” Sollux said, letting out a long, quavering breath that sent a rush of heat through Karkat, made him eager to outperform and to impress, to fill Sollux with the same heat. “Your move.”

“Just you wait,” he promised as the video feed went dead. “Just you fucking wait.”

* * *

Karkat thought about that crooked smirk as he climbed the hill, sickles in hand, streaming video from a cheap camera tied around his neck. “Sorry about the lag,” he said. Sollux responded, but his voice was too garbled to comprehend. “I’ll set it up outside the cave,” Karkat continued, then frowned and pulled out a mobile device.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CG: CAN YOU HEAR ME?  
TA: ye2, ii’ve been 2ayiing ii can’t hear you becau2e you’re comiing iin loud and clear.  
TA: dumba22.  
CG: I SAID I CAN’T HEAR YOU EITHER, DIPSHIT.  
CG: ANYWAY. THE CAVE IS RIGHT UP THIS HILL. I’LL SET THE CAMERA UP OUTSIDE SO YOU’LL ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO SEE SHIT.  
TA: ok.

The night was clear, the stars bright in their cycles. The previous day’s rain had left the ground soft and cool. He knew where the burrow was, a hill beside a clearing; it would, he thought, make a decent battleground. It was far enough from civilization to be discreet and open enough to leave plenty of room. After he retrieved a tripod from his sylladex and rammed its metal legs into the soft dirt, he took a moment to look at the moons.

CG: [CAN YOU SEE ME](https://bit.ly/MFiLST)?  
TA: yeah.  
CG: GET READY TO BE IMPRESSED.  
TA: ii’ll beliieve that when ii 2ee iit.  
CG: WELL, HERE IT IS.

It stormed from the cave, massive body coated with chitinous plating bordered by lank, malodorous brown hair, its mouth lined with wicked teeth. Nearsighted, it sniffed the air to find him. Karkat glanced at the camera, mounted on its tripod, and assumed a battle stance. He faced a full-grown cholerbear, its armor grown over its chest, back, and limbs. It leveled its massive head at him with a gust of rotten-meat breath and prepared to attack.

For something so heavy, he was surprised at how swift it was when it lunged at him, raising a paw; he barely pulled back as long claws tore the air in front of him and his sickle glanced harmlessly off leg armor. Catching the blade between plates was likelier to disarm him than to injure the cholerbear; he eyed it as he sidestepped a crushing blow, somersaulted away from a lunge.

The bear roared, head elevated and feet splayed on the ground. Karkat saw its unprotected neck, the cotton-candy pink mucosa of its mouth, its ridged esophagus. He circled, dodging and waiting for an opportunity.

Mercifully, one of its heavy feet skidded in the mud; Karkat dashed around it to leap onto its head, panting hard as he stretched his arms down and hooked a sickle into the roof of its mouth. Yanking it upward, he pierced the palate. It would be hard to remove. If the bear dislodged him, he would have only one weapon left. He pulled up with all his strength and felt the cholerbear rear upward, buried his face against the chitin and foul odor and leaned down to sink his other sickle into its throat as it shook and howled, throwing him unarmed to the ground.

Thereafter the battle was attrition; he had already struck the deathblow, blood pumping around the caught scythe and trailing across the ground, but it would be useless if he couldn’t avoid being crushed or torn apart. Claws raked the air, tore a ragged strip from his jeans as he scrambled backward. Hot wetness on his leg told him he hadn’t avoided the blow, but he felt the vibration in his legs as the cholerbear crashed motionless to the ground. He waited before prodding it with his toe, looking triumphantly back at the camera. His face was smeared with blood. The camera quality was far too poor to show color and victoriously he turned toward the lens, raising his middle finger before he pulled out the mobile.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

CG: THERE, SEE? WHAT DID I TELL YOU.  
TA: ii have to admiit that wa2 decent.  
TA: for you, anyway. ii could have FUCK  
TA: IIT’2 ALIIVE  
TA: 2HIIT KK  
CG: YEAH, LIKE I’M GOING TO BELIEVE THAT.

Karkat had no time to avoid the claw that sank into his back, tearing a furrow down the length of his torso. He stumbled forward, stupid with shock and pain and sudden terror, his blood not only exposed but pouring. He felt it soak into his pants and let out a long, low moan.

TA: kk are you ok  
TA: can you an2wer me?  
TA: giive me coordiinate2, ii can get you home

He stumbled down the hill, forgetting his camera and abandoning his weapons, too much in shock to feel pain. Somehow the danger had never felt real. He’d dashed into hazardous situations without caring, his eyes focused too much on other things to let him realize. Focused on impressing Sollux, on pushing him into more dangerous behavior - but when he thought about this happening to Sollux, claws tearing into him, Karkat felt sick. In retrospect he couldn’t imagine why he had ever considered it a good idea..

TA: iit’2 all my fault  
TA: ii’ve been 2o 2tupiid  
TA: kk  
CG: I’M FINE.  
CG: LOSING BLOOD. HAV TO GET HOM WTIHOUT ANYONE NOTciING.  
TA: fuck thii2, you can’t even type  
TA: tell me where.  
CG: I’M OK.  
TA: TELL ME YOU FUCKIING 2HIIT2TAIIN

Karkat gripped his roiling stomach, gritting his teeth, candy-red blood running down his back and soaking his clothes. The street was deserted. It was a straight shot to his hive. His lusus would have to clean up his trail, but his wounds needed tending; he stumbled, head swimming. Suddenly, he realized, he needed someone who wouldn’t betray him. Sollux had never asked his color, never pried. Karkat thought about Sollux’s vandalism and his acceptance of the monochromatic pictures. Sollux had to suspect something, must have known for some time that something was strange, but he had never asked.

TA: PLEA2E  
CG: IM SENDING COORIDAntES.  
TA: fiinally, FUCK.

Karkat stumbled into his hive and collapsed on the rug, shivering and cold. It was the easiest thing to ignore the frenzied clicking as his lusus scurried out to cover his tracks, to ignore the sudden banging on the door.

* * *

Long fingers loosened the bandage around his leg before retying it tighter, digging into his flesh. The heel of a hand grazed the ragged edges of his wound and Karkat hissed, sitting up. “You’re awful at this,” he rasped. Sollux looked askance at him, his expression more exhausted than angry.

“Yeah, I have tho much experienth. All the fighth I get into.”

“Ow, shit!” Karkat snapped. Sollux loosened the bandage.

“You know why I thought thith wath a good idea?” he asked. Karkat was briefly mesmerized by luminescent eyes, sharp teeth and horns glimmering in the half-light. It’s morning, he realized. Sollux must have been sitting beside him on the floor for hours.

“We’re both fucking morons. That’s probably it.”

“Tho you’d think I wath cool.” Sollux’s gaze moved to the carpet. “That’th why.”

“Then you didn’t have to try so hard.” Karkat watched surprise cross Sollux’s face, carrying a slow, nervous smile in its wake. “I’ll never think you’re cool, bro.” Slowly, his smile widened into a crooked grin. “Ever.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too,” Karkat answered before reaching out for him, beckoning. Sollux moved uncertainly, leaning over him until Karkat could reach his horns and pull him the rest of the way over. His lips were dry but soft, his thin hands uncertainly touching the bandages around Karkat’s body.

“You’re not asking about it,” Karkat said, his voice raspy. “You’re not saying anything.”

“About what?” Sollux asked, the serious set of his mouth the only indication that he understood. “Do that again.”

  



End file.
